


Scar Tissue

by twenty3



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Peter Parker Gets a Hug, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, peter has a baby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:14:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26391736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twenty3/pseuds/twenty3
Summary: Peter suffers another terrible loss. Thankfully, he has Tony and Stephen to help him. And fight over his daughter.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark & Stephen Strange, Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Comments: 6
Kudos: 115





	Scar Tissue

**Author's Note:**

> Just another idea that popped into my head that I had to write to get it out. Despite having four WIPs at the moment that have been begging to be posted...but here we are.
> 
> Thanks for clicking! Hope you all enjoy!

“Did you know twenty-three hundred babies die every year from sudden infant death syndrome?”

It took a decent amount of effort for Tony to hold back a smile. He knew that it wouldn’t dispel Peter’s anxiety, and would only add to it, despite it not being the older man’s intention. So instead he watched as Peter turned his attention back to his daughter, who was playing with blocks on the floor between them in his living room.

“But it’s more common in boys,” Peter went on. “And usually happens between the first and fourth month. So we’re okay there, I guess, even though she’s not quite one yet.”

At that, Tony sighed slightly. “Pete. You gotta stop tormenting yourself, kid. What did I say about Googling everything that could possibly go wrong?”

“You told me not to do it,” Peter replied. “But that’s way easier said than done, man.”

Tony laughed. “Yeah, I know. Just relax for a minute, alright? You’re doing an incredible job. She’s absolutely perfect.”

Peter smiled as his daughter gave up on the blocks and crawled forward, right into Tony’s lap. “She likes you more than me,” he observed.

“That’s not true at all,” Tony argued, scooping the baby girl up into his arms. “She just knows I’m the weak link and will spoil her like crazy.”

“Yeah,” Peter huffed. “As if I have any will power whatsoever.”

Tony couldn’t argue with him there. When it came to his daughter, Peter was a pushover. Never stood a chance.

It tore at Tony’s heart to think about everything the young man had been through recently.

In his second year at MIT, Peter met the woman who would later become his wife and mother of his child. Sarah was kind, sweet, and mostly on the quieter side. But she was fiercely smart and in no way intimidated by Peter’s superhero status. They were crazy about each other from the start, and were married only a year and a half later after their graduation.

A month after Emma was born in the second year of their marriage, Sarah was diagnosed with cancer. Four months later, and she was gone.

Even though he wished he could, Tony will never forget the nights he spent trying to keep Peter together. Nothing he, May, or Stephen could say would convince him that it wasn’t his fault, that he wasn’t cursed. It took a lot of sleepless nights to remind him just how loved and supported he was, and that he and Emma would always have everything they needed.

“How are you doing?”

Peter’s eyes snapped up to Tony’s from where they had been staring at the carpet under his feet. He blinked, wondering how long he had been zoning out for.

“I’m fine,” he replied with a shrug.

“Pete.”

The tone of Tony’s voice made tears sting Peter’s eyes. He knew he needed to be strong, to suck it up and be there for his daughter. The fact that he needed so much help from everyone around him made him feel like a failure, even though deep down he knew that wasn’t true. He was in an impossible situation, and just trying to do the best he could.

A forced smile kept the tears from falling. For the time being. “I’m just a little tired, I guess,” he relented. “Em hasn’t been sleeping much. But you’re supposed to be tired with a baby,” he said with a mostly empty laugh.

“Go lay down.”

Peter shook his head immediately. “Oh, no, I’m fine. Really. Besides, I have to try and get her down for her nap soon and then din-”

“Kid,” Tony cut in gently. “I can handle it. Stephen will be home soon to oversee everything. You need to get some sleep. You can’t take care of her if you’re not taking care of yourself.” When Peter opened his mouth to protest, Tony didn’t give him a chance. “Please. Let me help you.”

The tears were back in Peter’s eyes. “You already help me so much. You do so much for me, I can’t ask you to take over all the time.”

“You don’t. Taking a nap isn’t asking me to take over. And, again, you vastly underestimate how obsessed I am with this kid.”

A real smile appeared on Peter’s face. “I know that much.” He checked his watch with a slight nod. “Okay. Just wake me up in an hour, alright?”

Tony smirked. “Sure thing kid.”

“I’m serious.”

“Me too. I’m always serious. The most serious.”

As Tony stood with the baby still in his arms, Peter did the same. Emma kept reaching for Tony’s glasses, trying to pry them from his face unsuccessfully. It was one of her favorite games. Peter crossed the few steps over to them and kissed his daughter on the forehead.

“Have fun, Em,” he said sweetly. “Love you.”

In response, Emma giggled and rested her head against Tony’s chest, momentarily giving up on her desire to get his glasses.

“Sleep,” Tony ordered. “Now.”

“Yeah yeah yeah,” Peter mumbled as he retreated toward the guest room. “Thank you, Tony,” he said softly once he reached the bottom of the stairs.

But Tony had turned his attention on Emma to prove his point. “No problem, kid. This deal is working out in my favor, anyway.”

Once upstairs, Peter left the door to the guest room he frequented mostly open. Emma’s toys and clothes were strewn about the space, making him sigh. He really should pick up before he laid down. But first, he would take his shoes off.

After sitting on the bed to do so, Peter instead turned over and curled up, and was fast asleep once his head found the pillow.

* * *

No matter how many times it had happened, Stephen would never get tired of coming home to see Tony with Emma in his arms.

The pair were sitting on the couch, Emma on Tony’s lap with his arms securely around her to prevent her from going anywhere. The sorcerer could hear the unmistakable sounds of cartoons coming from the television in front of them even before he stepped into the living room. As soon as he did, Emma beamed, and immediately raised her arms up towards him.

“I get replaced that easily, huh,” Tony muttered as he willing let Stephen take the baby from him.

“Don’t be mad at her for having good taste,” came Stephen’s reply. He pressed a kiss to his husband’s lips before leaving one on Emma’s forehead. “Where’s Peter?”

Tony smiled, mostly to himself. “Upstairs asleep. I was supposed to wake him after an hour.”

“How long has it been?”

“Almost four.”

Stephen sighed. “Poor kid. He must be exhausted.”

“Yeah,” Tony agreed sadly. “He is. But I think he’s doing alright, considering. Better than before, anyway.”

“What can I do?” Stephen wanted to know.

“Hang out with the little princess here while I get dinner going?” Tony suggested. “I fed her when she woke up from her nap, so she should be good for a while. She crushed the jar of carrots again.”

“Those are your favorite, aren’t they?” Stephen cooed, turning Emma so she was facing him in his lap.

Warmth overtook every inch of Tony’s body as he watched Stephen with Emma. He stood from his spot on the couch, but paused long enough to get Stephen’s attention. “Everything okay at Hogwarts?”

The sorcerer managed to keep his eyes on Emma and not roll them at Tony. “Perfect. Just like you, huh Emma?”

With a laugh, Tony left them to head into the kitchen and start making dinner. His preparations were accompanied by the sounds of Emma and Stephen’s laughter as they played together, keeping a smile planted on Tony’s face the entire time he was cooking.

The food was just about done when Stephen came into the kitchen with Emma. He settled her into her high chair with a handful of Cheerios before sitting in the seat next to her at the island. Just as Tony was taking the lasagna out of the oven and setting it on the counter beside the bread and salad, Peter emerged. The sight before him stopped him mid-step at the edge of the kitchen.

His daughter smiled widely upon seeing him, even though the smile had already been on her face while she babbled away nonsense at Stephen. The smell of the lasagna, which Tony knew to be Peter’s favorite, and the general sense of being in a place they could both call home and feel at peace overwhelmed Peter to the point of sobs suddenly taking over his body.

“Pete?” Tony asked in alarm. “What’s wrong?”

In lieu of a verbal response, Peter crossed over to Tony and pulled him into a hard hug. Tony returned it immediately, putting a hand on the back of Peter’s head while the other gripped the young man’s shoulder.

“It’s just so hard sometimes,” Peter choked out into Tony’s shoulder. “I miss her so much. But you guys – you make it so much easier. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

Tony brushed his fingers through Peter’s curls. “You don’t ever have to find out, kid. It’s okay. You’re doing great, but you’re right. It’s hard. I’m so sorry. I wish it wasn’t like this. But we’ve got you, both of you. I swear.”

While Tony consoled Peter, Stephen had to turn back to Emma when the little girl looked at him with a mixture of concern and confusion. “It’s alright, sweetheart,” he said with a smile. “Everyone’s just a little tired and hungry.”

That made Peter laugh. A moment later, he finally released Tony and stepped back, wiping at his eyes.

“You okay?”

Peter nodded. “Yeah. I am. Just – god, thank you. Thank you both. I can’t say it enough, really, I -”

“You don’t have to say it at all,” Stephen chimed in. “The two of you are family. That’s all there is to it.”

“Stop,” Peter huffed. “You’re going to make me cry again.” He went around the island over to his daughter, who all but jumped out of the chair trying to get to him. “Hey, sweetie. Missed you.”

Tony and Stephen exchanged smiles. The latter got out of his seat to help Tony bring the food over to the table, where Peter sat with Emma situated in his lap. It wasn’t the best arrangement for eating dinner, but neither of them were about to argue with Peter hanging onto his daughter. He only handed her off to Tony after the meal in order to do the dishes, which he firmly stood his ground in being the one to do. After shooing Stephen and Tony away and to the living room, he set to work in cleaning up.

Upon his joining the small group in the living room twenty or so minutes later, he found Tony curled up on the couch next to Stephen, with Emma fast asleep on his shoulder and a blanket tucked over them.

“I don’t think you’re getting her back any time soon,” Stephen teased fondly.

Peter gaped. “I can’t believe you got her to sleep so easy.”

“I think Doc tired her out while I was making dinner,” Tony said softly so as not to disturb Emma. “But I’m happy to take the credit. Do you want me to go put her upstairs?”

“No,” Peter said instantly. “I’m afraid she’ll wake up. I can take her, though, if you -”

“Pete.”

Tony’s unimpressed tone was clear even through the single word spoken, and it caused a comfortable silence to settle for the next several minutes. The television droned quietly in the background, but no one in the room was paying much attention to it.

They were all lost in their own thoughts for the time being, until Stephen opted to break the silence.

“Why don’t you guys stay here tonight?” he suggested.

Out of habit, Peter almost protested. He hated to impose on them, but at the same time, he had no desire to drive back and sit in an empty house alone. After a while, it just got to be too much. Which he knew the two men sitting on the couch across from him were well aware of, and that was why Tony had insisted he bring Emma over for a visit today. This was probably a plan they had concocted long ago.

Over several months of visits, both he and Emma had enough of their stuff here to last them over a week, never mind just one night. Tony and Stephen always made sure there was plenty of anything they would ever need immediately on hand.

But Peter was so afraid he was taking advantage of them.

“Yeah, that sounds great,” Peter finally replied. He didn’t have the energy to try and argue against something he desperately wanted. “Just please promise me that I’m not holding you guys hostage and taking over your lives.”

It was Stephen’s turn to give Peter the unimpressed look. “Tony,” he said, turning to his husband. “How long have we been together?”

“Coming up on ten years, now that you mention it.”

Stephen looked back to Peter. “In all that time, I have never seen him half as happy as he is when you two are around. It’s not even close. And Tony adores me. Quite a lot, really. He’s very much in love with me. But against you and that little girl, I don’t stand a chance.”

Tony hummed. “When he’s right, he’s right.”

Realizing Peter was at a loss for words, Stephen decided to go on. “How are you really, Peter? Don’t just tell us you’re fine when you’re not.”

“But I have to be,” Peter almost whispered. “For her, and you guys, and May. I can’t be struggling all the time, I have to just keep it together.”

“Bullshit,” Tony said, but with no heat behind it. “You don’t have to be anything. I would be more worried if you were perfectly fine after what you’ve gone through. You’re not supposed to be immune to grief, kid. It’s something you have to deal with every single day. You can’t just will yourself through it.”

“I just don’t know what to do,” Peter admitted, tears once again in his tired eyes. “I can’t stop thinking about all the things I do wrong, and all the things I’m going to screw up in the future.” His eyes were trained on his sleeping daughter, who deserved the absolute best. “It should have been me, and not Sarah.”

Stephen felt Tony flinch next to him at Peter’s words. The brunet adjusted his hold on Emma and took a deep breath, forcing himself not to react hastily to what the young man had just said to them. But, in the end, it was Stephen who was able to respond first.

“Don’t say that,” he pleaded. “Don’t ever say that, Peter. You can’t let yourself think something so damaging, so impossibly wrong.”

“It doesn’t feel wrong,” Peter choked out. “She would be better off, she would -”

“Do you love her?” Tony’s voice was soft, but full of emotion. Peter just looked at him with tears running down his cheeks. “Do you love your daughter?” he repeated.

“Of course I do.”

“Is there anything you wouldn’t do for her?”

“No.”

“Are you going to do the best that you can for her every single day of your life?”

Peter had to swallow around the lump that had formed in his throat. “Yes.”

Tony shrugged the best that he was able with a sleeping baby on his chest. “Then that’s really all there is to it, Pete. This is the hardest thing you’re ever going to have to do, and it’s incredibly unfair how this has all played out. But it’s what happened. You can either convince yourself you can’t do this, or you can let everyone around you who loves you both help you and make the best of it.”

A few beats of silence passed, leaving the air eerily still.

“How do you do that?” Peter wanted to know.

Tony raised an eyebrow. “Do what?”

“I don’t know,” Peter admitted. “You just always say the exact right thing in the exact right moment and make me believe that everything is going to be okay.”

“Because everything _is_ going to be okay,” Tony replied. “It may not be easy, but it is going to be okay.”

“But you have to trust us,” Stephen added.

Peter nodded. “I do. You know I do, more than anyone other than May.”

“Trusting us means being honest, Peter. I know it’s hard, and you don’t want to take advantage. But you’re not. Asking for help when you need it is the right thing, for both you and Emma.”

“I just know that I can’t ever repay you, and it -”

“You really don’t get it,” Tony interrupted with a short laugh. “We want you around. Didn’t you hear Houdini here a minute ago? We love having you both here. If we didn’t, I would be hiding in a lab, and my wizard husband would be on a mountain top at all times. Or another dimension. But we’re not. Because we want to be here, with you. With Emma. And someday, we’re going to get you to believe that.”

Peter swallowed hard. “I do. I know you guys wouldn’t lie to me. It’s just – I don’t know.”

“You’re exhausted,” Tony offered.

“Yeah,” Peter agreed with a sigh before he could stop himself. “I am.”

“Then let’s get you both to bed.” When Peter looked like he was going to argue, Tony stood carefully. “We’ll have plenty of time to hang out tomorrow. But, honestly, you’re not all that fun when you’re overtired.”

With a laugh, Peter stood up as well. He said goodnight to Stephen before following Tony upstairs. The older man put Emma in her crib effortlessly without the little girl so much as stirring. He dutifully stood watch over her while Peter took a quick shower before coming back into the guest room.

“I still can’t believe she’s sleeping so soundly,” Peter whispered.

Tony kept smiling at Emma. “What do you need?”

“Nothing,” Peter replied, shaking his head. “Seriously. Thank you, for today and tonight and, well, everything.” Catching Tony a bit off guard, Peter pulled him into a strong hug. “I hope you know that I’m well aware of how luck I am to have you. And how much I love you.”

“I love you too,” Tony replied without hesitation as he hugged Peter back.

Other than their goodnights, not much more was said between them. Tony knew Peter well enough to know that he was more than exhausted, and any additional emotional conversation would further drain him. The young man needed sleep at the moment, and not much else.

Back downstairs, Tony found Stephen in the same spot on the couch, snuggled up under the blanket that had once been around him and Emma with a cup of tea in his scarred hands. Another steaming mug was sitting on the coffee table in front of him, patiently waiting for his husband.

“I adore you, huh?”

As Tony slipped under the blanket next to Stephen and collected his drink, the sorcerer smiled. He stretched his long arm to wrap around Tony’s shoulders and draw the other man against him.

“Honesty is always the post policy, honey.”

Tony couldn’t help his soft laugh. “You were right though, I guess. You don’t stand a chance against either of them. Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Stephen shrugged. “You don’t either.”

A few beats of silence passed while they sat there together before Tony spoke again.

“They’re going to be okay, right?”

“Of course they are,” Stephen replied immediately before pressing his lips to the side of Tony’s head. “That’s what we’re here for.”

“Yeah,” Tony agreed with a sigh. “I just wish – fuck, Stephen. It’s so unfair.”

“I know,” Stephen all but whispered. He felt Tony release a shaky breath. “Hey,” he said softly, trying to move to look at him. “You okay?”

But Tony just nuzzled closer to Stephen. “Yeah,” be breathed. “Just...I wish there was more we could do for him.”

“Me too. But he’s a tough kid, always has been. He’s going to be okay. They both are.”

Without being able to pinpoint exactly how, Tony knew Stephen was right.

* * *

Thanks to the fact that the married couple stayed up so late just snuggling on the couch together, it was only a few short hours later that Tony woke up to the sound of Emma starting to cry just down the hall. He was up and next to her crib before either Peter or Stephen were woken up. With a sleepy smile, he picked her up and brought her against his chest. Emma quieted down instantly, dropped her head against his shoulder and started grabbing at his t shirt.

“Come on, sweetheart. Let’s get you some breakfast.”

Almost exactly an hour later, Peter woke up slowly. Light was coming into the room from the windows facing the lake, where the sun had been rising for a little while now. He turned onto his back and rubbed at his eyes before throwing the blankets off and going over to Emma’s crib.

Finding it empty sent a sharp jolt of panic through him. But then he heard Tony’s voice coming from downstairs.

Talking to his daughter.

Peter found them in the sun room. Emma was sitting between Tony and Stephen on the overstuffed outdoor couch, giggling at the butterflies floating all around them.

“Emma, Doc here cheats, okay?” Tony said. “You cannot like him more than me just because he can do magic. I have way more money. Remember that.”

“Tony,” Stephen huffed disapprovingly.

“Don’t listen to him. Money is all that matters. I will literally buy you anything you could possibly want. So until you start talking and can tell me, I’ll just start buying random things that are way better than fake butterflies.”

“You’re impossible.”

“Don’t be jealous.”

“You’re the one who’s jealous.”

“Guys,” Peter said with a laugh, finally making the older men aware of his presence. “You’ve gotta stop fighting over her.”

The sorcerer and the mechanic looked up at him with bemused looks. “No,” they replied in unison.

Emma was in Peter’s arms seconds later, the little girl ecstatic to see her father. Peter held her tight and pressed a kiss to her cheek.

“Thank you,” he said to Tony, somehow knowing he was the one who got up with her. “I hope she didn’t wake you up too early.”

“It’s never too early for that face,” Tony replied. Then, before Peter could start to feel guilty, Tony stood and clapped his hands together. “What do we want for breakfast? Pancakes? Omelets? Waffles?”

“Sounds great,” Stephen replied, earning a laugh from Peter and an eye roll from Tony. “You do the omelets, I’ve got the rest.”

Peter wanted to help, but he didn’t want to put Emma down. He knew that in the blink of an eye, she would be too big to hold all of a sudden. So he allowed the superheroes to make breakfast for them, laughing as they argued over who was better at whatever they were doing and playing with Emma at the same time.

After breakfast they all went outside to enjoy one of the last few warm mornings before autumn began to roll in and make it far to chilly to enjoy the back porch. The conversation quickly turned towards Emma’s upcoming first birthday party, which Peter was very much looking forward to. As much as he missed his wife and wished she could be with them to celebrate, he couldn’t help but be excited about an entire day focused around his daughter.

Not that it would really be much different from most days, however.

“Don’t worry, Peter,” Stephen was saying. “I’ll reign Tony in and keep him from buying too many presents.”

Peter narrowed his eyes. “You’re just as bad as he is,” the younger man argued. “I bet you’d let her play with the time stone if she wanted to.”

When no response came, Tony gaped. “Oh my god. You let her play with the time stone.”

“I did not,” Stephen huffed, feigning annoyance. A beat passed. “I made a fake one for her to play with.” When his husband started to shake his head, Stephen rolled his eyes. “Oh please. Like you didn’t design indestructible glasses just because she loves to throw yours around.”

At that, Tony could only smirk.

“I was actually wondering if you would make those really good calzones for the party,” Peter said to Tony, not at all surprised that the genius kept his eyes on Emma, who he had stolen back from Peter once they had gotten outside.

“Sure thing, kid,” Tony replied while Emma appeared to try to break his fingers. “What else can we do?”

“Nothing, really,” Peter assured. “May has already started decorating my house. She claims she didn’t, but I’m pretty sure she ordered the cake like six months ago too.”

“It’s a very big day,” Tony said with a smile, which made Emma giggle at him. “Don’t worry about what your dad and Doc say, Emma. You’re getting so many presents. They have no control over me. Never have, never will.”

In lieu of trying to argue with him, Peter and Stephen just looked at one another and rolled their eyes, although their smiles gave them away quite easily.

* * *

Just about a month later, a small group gathered at Peter’s home to celebrate Emma’s first birthday.

Tony and Stephen joined May, Ned, MJ, Happy and Sarah’s parents for the day. The sight of Emma being surrounded by the people who loved her most in the world brought tears to Peter’s eyes more than once. He was so grateful for every person in the room that he kept getting choked up, and wished there was some way to explain to them just how appreciative he really was.

He got his chance with Tony and Stephen towards the end of the party. May was sitting with Emma, showing the little girl each of her new presents one by one again. Peter found the older superheroes in the kitchen cleaning up, which they were expressly forbidden from doing. But Peter didn’t yell at them. He couldn’t find it in him to even pretend to give them a hard time. For a moment or two he just stood there silently, watching them at the sink. They didn’t know he was there yet because their backs were to him as they took care of the dirty plates and cups.

“You’re magic drying them, aren’t you?” Tony accused.

Stephen shook his head. “Of course not. That would be an abuse of my power.”

“Then why isn’t the towel even wet?”

“It is.”

“Let me see it.”

“You don’t trust me? Ten years together, Tony. Ten years. And you don’t trust my word?”

Tony made a grab for the towel, but Stephen’s longer arms kept it out of reach. “Nope. I don’t. You’re a liar and a con artist. Why don’t you use your magic to do all of this instead of just your part? I thought you loved me?”

“Be a little bit more dramatic.”

“I can’t. I’ve tried. This is my maximum level of dramatic.”

“I love you.”

“Shove it.”

Stephen’s laughter mixed in with Peter’s as he came fully into the kitchen just as the sorcerer was putting the last dried off dish away. Tony finally managed to snag the towel from his husband and used it to wipe off his hands before tossing it back at him, trying to hit the taller man in the face but failing pretty badly.

“Everything alright in here?” Peter asked in a teasing tone.

“He’s so mean to me,” Stephen sighed.

“And you say _I’m_ dramatic. Jesus Christ.”

Peter just shook his head at the older men. “Coffee?” he offered. They both accepted.

When the warm drinks had been poured into mugs and distributed, the trio sat down at the small kitchen table, recently cleared of the evidence of the party. A good ending to a pretty perfect day, just as Peter thought it up in his head over and over again.

“Pete.” Tony’s voice dragged Peter out of staring down into his coffee. “You alright?”

“Yeah,” Peter replied, taking a sip. “Just tired. But a good tired.”

Stephen smiled at the younger man. “You did a great job. This was an awesome day.”

“Thanks,” Peter smiled back. “Actually, though, I was wondering what you guys were up to next weekend.” Tony and Stephen raised their eyebrows, almost in sync. “Sarah’s parents want to take Emma for a couple nights. I thought maybe we could go to lunch, maybe a movie or something.” He cleared his throat slightly. “I know Emma is, you know, the best reason to be around, but I thought it would be fun to do some things she can’t do just yet. The three of us.”

Tony shook his head slowly. “Do you really think we wouldn’t want to hang out with just you?” he asked, almost thinking out loud more than anything.

Peter shrugged. “No. No, I just know that you guys are both so busy all the time and -”

“Stephen isn’t allowed to pick the movie.”

The interrupted by Tony made his husband scoff. “And why the hell not?”

“Uh, because you have terrible taste?”

“I married _you_. You realize the implications of what you just said, right?”

A nod from Tony accompanied his slight smirk. “I do. I tried to talk you out of marrying me for almost a year, if you remember correctly. And even after we got married – I tried to get you to leave me, like, two weeks ago. So I stand by what I said. You have terrible taste.”

Stephen’s eye roll was sure to have given him a headache. “Your taste in movies is even worse,” he argued.

“Fine,” Tony conceded, far earlier than anyone would have guessed. “I pick where we eat. Pete picks the movie.”

“And I get a say in nothing?”

“The snacks,” Tony offered. “You’re great at movie snacks, I’ll give you that.”

“Thanks,” Stephen deadpanned. “I’m so glad you can find a use for me.”

Before the sentence was finished, Tony was smirking. “Come on, baby, you know I’ve found plenty of uses for -”

“Dude,” Peter cut in with a groan. “I thought we came to an understanding? Like, ten years ago? That I get to pretend you guys don’t – ugh – _do_ anything like that and you would never make me believe otherwise?”

“What ever do you mean?” Tony asked innocently, batting his eyelashes. “I didn’t mean anything untoward. _Definitely_ nothing sexual. We don’t even sleep in the same bed. Stephen astral projects, keeps his robes on, the whole deal. Don’t so much as hold hands. Promise.”

“Keep it that way,” Peter muttered dramatically. “No one wants to think about their dads having sex.”

It wasn’t the first time Peter had referred to them that way, but it had been a little while since the last time he had. He always treated them that way, of course, and they had acted as if he were their son ever since that day on Titan. Tony, much earlier than that, but Titan was what cemented it. For all three of them.

After sneaking away for a few minutes to put Emma to bed and say goodbye to Sarah’s parents, Peter returned to the kitchen to find Stephen and Tony still sitting at the table, on their second cups of coffee, laughing either with or at each other. Peter could never tell.

And in that moment, he knew that he could handle anything else life was going to throw at him, because he had them. His throat thickened for a moment at the thought of ever losing either of them, but managed to push it to the back of his mind as he took his seat again, smiling his thanks when Tony pushed over another mug of coffee for him.

“I remember a time you wouldn’t let me drink coffee,” Peter mused.

Tony laughed. “Yeah, because caffeine and hyperactive fifteen-year-olds with superhuman abilities usually don’t mix very well. You literally climbed the walls _without_ coffee.”

“Like you’re any better,” Stephen chimed in.

Without a defense, Tony pretended Stephen hadn’t spoken and instead looked at Peter. “I’m really proud of you, kid.”

The sudden declaration caught Peter off guard. He choked slightly on his coffee before he was able to swallow it. He sat up straighter in his chair for some reason, and furrowed his brow in confusion. Before he could inquire, Stephen was joining in with his husband.

“We both are. What you do for Emma is amazing, Peter. You’re an incredible father, and you need to know that.”

With no words to respond, Peter just looked back and forth between them. His vision was a bit blurry from the tears pooling in his eyes, but he managed to keep them from falling.

“It’s really not fair when you guys say stuff like that with no warning,” he eventually huffed. Tony and Stephen both laughed softly. “But I just – thank you. You have no idea how much that means coming from you two. I – I can’t explain it. Thank you for being there, for both of us, and never letting me give up.”

“Don’t give us that credit,” Tony argued. “You were never going to. It’s just not who you are.”

“Because of you,” Peter added.

It was clear he meant the pair of Tony and Stephen, although they would go on to jokingly argue over which one Peter had been referring to for the next five minutes.

Peter was smiling too hard to try to correct either of them.


End file.
